


Itsumo Nando Demo

by altairattorney



Category: Journey (Video Game 2012)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-29
Updated: 2014-01-29
Packaged: 2018-01-10 10:21:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1158503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/altairattorney/pseuds/altairattorney
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We don't search for another way. This is how it ends and it begins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Itsumo Nando Demo

_The quiet heart when parting_  
 _The ear listens_  
 _as the body changes to zero_  
  
When we get to the end, we find there is none.  
Our voices ad our outlines dissolve in the white, beyond what our touch tells us, as we fight not to lose each other again. But space and time left us behind long ago - we are a single reality, no longer two, no eyes, no cloth.  
There is no loss. There is just the sky we are shot through, and a long trail of pure light. Our shape is fast and graceful.  
  
 _Living, mysterious, dying, mysterious_  
 _The flower, the wind, the city_  
 _They're the same_  
  
We fly above the frozen tears that buried us, without memories of pain or joy. The ground, our mirror, glitters in gold; and we tread our steps in reverse, cancelling them.  
With eyes clear and renewed, our final journey transforms what we have felt then – it is an higher world, wrapped up in white, where no ruins interrupt the flow of the sand. We see red strips of life, cascades of sun, traces of water now filled by crystalline air. We are the joy and the essence of it all; and we sing our message to the creatures down there, opening their gazes to what expects them.  
  
We don't wonder what will be of us.  
We don't search for another way.  
This is how it ends and it begins.  
  
 _Even in the closing memories, there are always_  
 _whispers that cannot be forgotten_  
 _Even on the shattered mirror shards,_  
 _a new scenery is reflected_  
  
We wake in a single body, with new pearl eyes and no traces of our fall.  
In the moment this head start existing and looks for the sky, the new beginning finds its way in the present.  
The white eyes watch. A hint of shooting star glances back from the mountaintop.  
It is the last signal – the call, a something that this body cannot fully understand. For us, however, it is time to go back to eternity.  
We fall asleep until the next forever.  
I move my feet.  
  
 _I won't search beyond the sea from now_  
 _The shining thing is always here_  
 _it can be found within myself_

**Author's Note:**

> Itsumo Nando Demo (いつも何度でも) is the beautiful song that accompanies the ending credits to Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し, Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi), one of the masterpieces brought to life by famous Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. I am a fan of his works and of Studio Ghibli in general, but Spirited Away truly has a special place in my heart, because of its astounding beauty and the messages it communicates - although the medium is different, it is, in fact, very close to Journey. The reason why I chose this title is its literal meaning: always, numerous times. Which, I think, fits very well the situation I wanted to describe, and Journey in general.  
> But also check out the translation (credits: animelyrics dot com), the original lyrics and the song, and admire its astounding similarities with the spiritual, and final, message of our beloved game.
> 
> Dedicated to the Journey Stories tumblr group, and to each of the companions I have met by now. Three months of Journey, exactly.


End file.
